Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

An Alternative Explanation for the "Health Emergency" in Mexico

Ciaran Dubhuidhe | 01.05.2009 05:39 | Health | Repression | Social Struggles

A virus is a terrible thing to waste.

As many are beginning to notice, the number of deaths attributed to the swine flu in Mexico has been greatly exaggerated. The first sign that something was amiss should have been the absence of information on the identities of the deceased. Missing were the normally present stories on the tragic lives of the victims. The second sign that something was amiss should have been the impressively small number of attributed deaths outside of Mexico. Despite all the hype, we are now finding out that this strain of swine flu is largely benign. How could such a small story have enveloped the world and caused global panic? The only real disaster has been memetic. The virus that threatens us is not a physical virus, but a memetic virus: the false rumor of a pandemic.

This false rumor had a start. It began with the Government of Mexico. The outbreak of a flu no more dangerous than any other flu was spun into an exaggerated story of biblical proportions. Over the past weekend, the President Calderón, without consulting the Mexican Congress, grasped upon this virus and made a decree giving federal authorities the power to invade homes, quarantine people at will, and bring the country to a standstill. His decree was based on a panic intentionally created by the government itself. Why would Calderón do this?

At this moment, Mexico is in the midst of an existential crisis. The combined realities of its corrupt government, the routes of the drug trade, and the neighboring drug market have combined to give rise to a system of drug cartels that rival the Mexican Government in economic power as well as raw firepower. Calderón is losing grip on the country his illegal election stole from Lopez Obrador . This darling of the corrupt Mexican ruling class has little means left with which to hold his grip upon power. Whether or not it will work, he seems to have made the decision to exaggerate a health crisis as a means to consolidate absolute power and to confer upon himself the powers necessary to stamp out those parts of the drug oligarchy not under his personal control. Shutting down the country and gaining access to any and all properties, homes, and businesses serves this purpose. What will come of this naked grasp of power it is too soon to know.

Meanwhile, around the world, the "never let a crisis go unexploited" factions have been having a hay day. In the United States, the pharmaceutical industries, owned in large part by friends of the former Bush Regime, are pumping up the media's drive to scare the hell out of everyone, driving Americans into hospitals and clinics for an injection of Tamiflu and driving politicians to call for the immediate stock piling of yet more Tamiflu. In the Middle East, Islamic Regimes are using the crisis as an excuse to kill pigs and to point to swine flu as Allah's wrath upon infidels. Israel, for its part, has been doing its best to exhibit its ability to control the media by having the name of the flu changed to something it finds more Kosher: The Mexican Flu . Israel has failed to explain how the name "Swine Flu" is any less offensive as the name "Operation Cast Lead ."

Racists are having a good time at it as well. Boston's neo-fascist Jay Severin was suspended from his job as a radio hate show host for referring to Mexican immigrants as "criminaliens," "primitives," "leeches," and "women with mustaches and VD," as well as blaming these defenseless people for bringing swine flu into the United States. There seems to be something in panic for everyone.

The only matter left to determine the end of this story is whether or not Mexico's Calderón will lead the world in a karaoke rendition of "I started a joke" by the Bee Gees.

Ciaran Dubhuidhe
- Homepage: http://insolentmediacenter.com/node/33

Comments

Display the following 2 comments

  1. An unnecessary virus — Danny
  2. Pandemical opportunism. — oink oink.
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech